Thousands of residents living in the country illegally, on account of their residency status having expired, received a respite last week when the Ministry of Interior announced an amnesty for residency violators.

The nearly month-long amnesty period, from 29 January to 22 February 2018, will now allow expatriates whose residency applications were earlier rejected or those with currently expired residency permits to rectify their status or leave the country without paying any due fines.

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) on Tuesday, 23 January issued ministerial Decision No. 64/2018 which stipulated regulations for expatriates to rectify their residency status or leave the country.

The MoI statement said that, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khaled Al- Jarrah Al-Sabah took the decision based on the relevant Amiri decree, laws, ministerial decision and inter-ministerial correspondences.

Following are the articles of Decision No. 64/2018:

Article One: Without breaching travel ban orders from concerned legal authorities, all expatriates who do not have residence permits or whose residence permits has expired should leave the country from 29 January, 2018 to 22 February, 2018 directly through official exit channels. Procedures should be carried out at the exit points without approval from any other authority.

Article Two: Anyone willing to obtain residency permits for these expatriates and are ready to pay fine without referral to concerned authorities for investigation should pay the fine and regulate their status, if they satisfy conditions for granting residency permits.

Article Three: Anybody arrested within the period mentioned in Article One of this decision shall be regarded as violating the Residency Law and will be deported immediately, if there is no decision to deport them in line with the provisions of the Constitution.

Article Four: Expatriates who violated the Residency Law with administrative or judicial obstacles that could prevent them from leaving the country should visit the Residency Affairs General Department to know the conditions for obtaining residence permit, according to rules and regulations stipulated for the period mentioned in Article One of this decision.

Article Five: If expatriates who violated the Residency Law will leave the country within the period mentioned in Article One of this decision, they will be exempted from penalties or fines stipulated in Amiri Decree No. 17/1959 and its executing decisions. This article is not applicable to those who will enter Kuwait after the issuance of this decision and those who will commit violations after this date.

Article Six: Expatriates who leave the country according to rules stipulated in this decision are allowed to return through legal channels unless they are prevented from entering the country for other reasons.

Article Seven: If expatriates who violated the Residency Law do not leave the country during the grace period stipulated in Article One of the decision will be punished as per the law. They will not be allowed to obtain residency permits, will be deported and will not be allowed to return to the country.
Article Eight: The Ministry of Interior undersecretary should enforce the decision starting from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.